Launch will reveal North Korean rocket's purpose

Concerns over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions are mounting on two fronts thanks to a planned rocket launch and signs of preparations for an underground nuclear arms test.

Timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the nation’s late founder Kim Il-Sung on 15 April, the Pyongyang regime says its Unha-3 rocket will merely place a small weather satellite into orbit. But the rocket is capable of launching much bigger payloads, prompting fears that this is really a ballistic missile test.

US analysts say the 30-metre-high rocket on the launch pad at Sohae near the Chinese border could pack the power to send a warhead to Hawaii or Alaska.

Suspicious dirt

Unha-3’s true purpose could be revealed at the launch, planned for between 12 and 16 April. David Wright of the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Massachusetts, writes on the organisation’s website that it should be clear from the trajectory Unha-3 takes whether it is a genuine attempt to launch a satellite or a missile experiment.

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A successful launch would contrast with Unha-2, a slightly smaller rocket, launched in 2009, that failed to reach orbit when its third stage did not separate.

Meanwhile, South Korean spy satellites show earth and sand are being piled up in another area of North Korea, Punggye-ri, where previous underground nuclear tests took place in 2006 and 2009. Then, similar telltale dirt piles appeared before the tests. It is thought the dirt was used to plug the tunnels leading to the underground nuclear weapon bay to prevent radioactive debris escaping.